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Services · Reconditioning

Send us your
fleet. We'll send
it back better.

If you already own IBC totes and want them washed, re-valved, and back in service — that's our wash bay's day job. We can take your fleet, recondition by lot, and return them to your facility with batch records attached.

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Inside the wash bay

What an industrial recondition cycle looks like.

  1. Cold triple rinse. Removes residual product.
  2. Hot detergent wash. 160–180°F. Food-safe detergent for food-bound; caustic for industrial-bound.
  3. Hot rinse. Removes detergent.
  4. Air dry. Forced air through bottle interior.
  5. Valve & gasket replacement. Standard part of every cycle.
  6. Cage straighten / repair. Per-unit inspection.
  7. Batch QA. Visual inspection + spot rinse pH check on food-grade.
  8. Tag, cert, and stage. Each unit gets a serial tag. Wash record filed by batch.
For existing fleets

Two pricing models.

Per-unit: flat per-tote price, ideal for occasional reconditioning of small batches.

Per-load: dock-to-dock pricing for ongoing fleet reconditioning. We pick up your fleet, return cleaned units, repeat on your schedule.

Quote my fleet →
Use cases

Who sends us their totes.

Co-packers

Cycle wash between SKUs

When a co-packer changes runs, the totes need to be food-grade washed and certified between products.

Distributors

Tote return programs

Distributors with tote-return programs send us the returns for cycling back to retail customers.

Industrial

Product changeover

Industrial customers swapping product lines or going through annual maintenance cycles.

Ag

Season-end cleanup

Liquid-fertilizer operations cycling totes between seasons.

Recycler partners

Wash-then-grade

Other yards sending totes for wash-then-grade when their inbound is unknown.

Pre-resale

Your own selling program

You sell totes to your customers and want them branded as washed-by-us. We white-label.

Wash bay flow, in detail

A reconditioning cycle, minute by minute.

A standard cycle runs roughly 38 minutes per unit if we're running the bay efficiently. Batch through-put with two operators is 18–24 units per shift on food-grade, 26–32 on industrial. Here's where the time goes.

StageTime (min)EquipmentOutput check
Intake + pre-inspect3Walk-around, valve crack-open, residue lookPass / segregate / reject
Cold triple rinse6City water through internal spray ballEffluent visual
Hot detergent wash9160–180°F, rotating spray, food-safe or causticTime + temp log
Hot rinse5165°F city waterEffluent pH 6.5–7.5
Forced air dry7Blower through bottle interiorVisual dryness
Valve + gasket swap32" ball valve, fresh EPDM or PTFE gasketLeak test
Cage truing / repair2 (avg)Hydraulic press, MIG if neededDimensional check
QA + tag + stage3Serial sticker, batch sheet entryFinal visual + spot pH
Batch traceability

What an ESG auditor actually wants to see.

Every batch through the wash bay generates a record. The record stays on file for seven years, indexed by batch number and by inbound BOL. If your auditor asks for proof that batch 24-1108 was food-grade washed, we can produce: the wash sheet (time, temp, detergent SKU, operator initials), the per-unit serial list, the final pH check, and the disposition (which customer it shipped to).

We don't charge for record retrieval, ever. If you call in 2031 asking for a 2026 batch sheet, we'll send it.

Per-batch record contents

What we keep, what you can pull.

  • Inbound BOL + prior-contents declaration
  • Unit serial list with cage tag numbers
  • Wash log: time, temperature, detergent SKU + lot
  • Rinse pH readings
  • Valve + gasket part numbers
  • Operator initials per stage
  • Final QA sign-off
  • Outbound BOL / customer ID
Pricing models compared

Three ways to pay for the wash.

Model A

Per-unit

$28–$48 per tote depending on grade, prior contents, and food vs. industrial. Best for one-off batches under 60 units. Freight billed separately.

Model B

Per-load (dock-to-dock)

$2,400–$3,600 per 40-unit truck, all-in: pickup, wash, return delivery. Best for regular fleets of 80+ units cycling on a schedule.

Model C

Swap-out

We deliver clean ones and pick up dirty ones in the same trip. You never wait. Pricing is per-cycle, set quarterly. Best for high-frequency users who hate downtime.

For ongoing programs we'll run all three numbers and tell you which is cheapest for your actual volume. Sometimes the per-unit math wins; sometimes the per-load wins; for the right cadence, swap-out is a no-brainer.

Turnaround by batch size

How long it takes, honestly.

2–3 d
20–40 units, in-bay
4–6 d
40–80 units, in-bay
7–10 d
80–160 units, in-bay
14+ d
Fleet program, dock-to-dock

Times above are wash-bay only. Add 2–5 days for pickup freight and 2–5 days for return freight depending on where you are. A typical full-cycle dock-to-dock for a 40-unit fleet, Columbia MO to St. Louis and back, is 9 business days.

Regulatory references

Where the food-grade rules live.

For food-contact end-use, the relevant FDA citations are 21 CFR 177.1520 (olefin polymers for food contact, which covers HDPE) and 21 CFR 178.3297 (colorants). Our wash process and replacement parts are aligned to keep reconditioned units consistent with the original FDA-compliant resin and component spec.

For prior-product traceability, we follow the spirit of the UN 31HA1 packaging code recertification framework — every food-grade unit leaves with a documented prior-contents history and a wash record sufficient for downstream packaging due-diligence.

For wash chemistry, we use food-contact-approved detergents on food-grade lines (typically NSF A1 registered) and switch detergent SKU when running industrial. The wash log captures which SKU ran on which batch. If you need MSDS / SDS for the detergent in your batch, ask — we'll attach it.

We are not a UN/DOT-recertification packaging shop. If you need a tote re-stamped with a new UN number, we'll refer you to a certified recertifier. What we do is wash, repair, and return — with documentation suitable for most food and industrial reuse cycles.

White-label / private-label

If you resell to your customers under your own name.

Program A

Unbranded wash

We wash, you sell. The wash record is in our system but your end-customer sees only your invoice. Most common arrangement for distributors and resellers.

Program B

Co-branded cert

Wash certificate carries both our wash-bay seal and your company logo. Sent as PDF to your end-customer at your direction. Adds about $4/unit for the documentation layer.

Program C

Full private label

Cage tag printed with your brand and SKU system. Wash sticker carries your batch numbering convention. We're invisible to your customer. Min 200 units / year.

Program D

Wash-and-drop

We wash, dispatch directly to your customer's dock on your behalf, invoice you per unit. Saves you from receiving and re-shipping.

Freight inclusion

All-in quotes, on request.

By default we quote wash separately from freight, because a lot of fleet customers prefer to control their own freight. But if you want a single number — pickup + wash + return delivery, one invoice — we'll do that. The wash side is fixed; the freight side moves with fuel and lane, so the quote validity is typically 14 days.

For customers inside our 9-state core (MO, KS, IA, AR, IL, KY, OK, NE, TN) we run our own trailers and quote tighter. Outside the core we use vetted partner carriers; the quote is still all-in, we just won't pretend we're running the truck ourselves.

How our freight works →
Reconditioning FAQ

Questions fleet owners ask before sending units.

Can you handle units that held something I'm not 100% sure about?
Sometimes. Send a photo of any label or residue and tell us where the tote came from. If we can identify the prior product, we can usually wash. If we can't, we'll either route to recycling or refer you to a hazmat handler.
What's the smallest batch you'll run?
20 units. Below that, the bay setup time eats the economics. If you have 10 units and a friend has 10 units and you can deliver together, that works fine.
Will the unit come back with a UN/DOT recertification stamp?
No. We don't do UN recertification — that requires a different certification we don't hold. We do wash, repair, document, and return. If you need a fresh UN stamp, we'll refer you to a certified packaging recertifier.
Can you wash totes that held inks, paints, or solvents?
Some, not all. Water-based inks and detergents: yes. Solvent-based paint or industrial solvent residue: case-by-case, depends on chemistry. Send the prior SDS and we'll tell you yes / no within a day.
What detergents do you use?
Food-grade lines: an NSF A1 registered alkaline detergent at recommended dilution and temperature. Industrial lines: a caustic-based formulation. Both are documented in the batch log and SDS is available on request.
Do you replace pallets?
Yes when needed, at $22 (wood) or $42 (composite) per swap. Per-unit pricing assumes pallet is sound; we'll note swaps on the invoice.
What about valves and gaskets?
Both replaced as standard on every wash cycle. Cost is included in the per-unit price. Specialty valves (camlock, tri-clamp adapter, etc.) are upcharged at cost — typically $8–$24 extra.
How do I get my batch certificate?
Emailed as PDF within one business day of batch completion, automatically. If you need it on letterhead or with your logo, ask once and we'll set it up for all future batches.
Got a fleet to cycle?

One email gets the quote rolling.

Unit count, prior contents, pickup zip, cadence you want. We'll run per-unit, per-load, and swap-out math and tell you which one wins for your situation.

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